This invention relates to an improvement of a method and apparatus for loading a cosmetic material into a shallow cup of a compact or other container and for solidifying the cosmetic material loaded therein.
A method and apparatus of this kind are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-60004. The method disclosed therein comprises the steps of mixing powder cosmetic material with a solvent to form viscous cosmetic material, injecting the viscous cosmetic material under a predetermined pressure into a container, and at the same time having the solvent in the cosmetic material absorbed into an absorbing material for solidifying the cosmetic material. This improves operation efficiency and the external appearance of the products considerably, when compared with the conventional method wherein powder cosmetic material is loaded into a container without using a solvent or with the method wherein cosmetic material dissolved in a solvent is poured into a container and left to solidify by evaporation of the solvent.
Specifically, the Japanese Patent Publication discloses the following method. A receptacle to be loaded with cosmetic material is held in position by a supporting block. The receptacle has holes formed through the bottom thereof or through the sides thereof for injection of cosmetic material, and when the receptacle is held in position by the supporting block, nozzles of the supporting block are directly fitted to the holes of the receptacle. A porous absorbent block is pressed against the upper surface of the receptacle. In this state, the viscous cosmetic material which is made by dissolving the powder cosmetic material in a solvent is injected into the receptacle under a predetermined pressure from the nozzles. The moment the nozzles start the injection, the porous absorbent block starts to absorb the solvent from the cosmetic material.
In the above method, the holes in the sides or the bottom of the receptacle are directly fitted to the nozzles of the supporting block, and the cosmetic material is then injected into the receptacle through these nozzles. This requires, however, that the holes must be formed in precise positions with accurate dimensions, and that the nozzles must be perfectly fitted to the holes. Otherwise, the cosmetic material injected under a predetermined pressure from the nozzles leaks out of the holes, and thereby the external surface of the container or the supporting block become seriously stained. Cleaning the stains decreases operation efficiency.
Furthermore, in the above described method the injection pressure should be set extremely high so as to reduce the amount of the solvent remaining after the solidification of the cosmetic material. Therefore, the cosmetic material is injected into the container at high speed, resulting in so-called jetting which often results in unevenness of color and luster of the cosmetic products after the solidification of the cosmetic material.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for loading a cosmetic material into a container and solidifying the same, wherein the cosmetic material in a viscous state may be efficiently loaded into the container without any leakage thereof as experienced in the prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of the above type which will promote solidification of the cosmetic material for shortening the process time.
A further object of the invention is the provision of a loading and solidifying method which will prevent the occurrence of jetting to thereby obtain uniform color and luster of the cosmetic material at the surface thereof.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus which is adapted to carry out the above method.